Hubbard's will bring all its operations under one roof

Hubbard's Hardware will consolidate its operations into one store on Crater Lake Highway this summer.

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By GREG STILES

MailTribune.com

By GREG STILES

Posted May. 2, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By GREG STILES
Posted May. 2, 2014 at 2:00 AM

Hubbard's history

Hubbard's was founded in 1884 in Jacksonville by Fortunatus Hubbard Sr. In 1898 it moved to 335 E. Main St., in Medford. Around 1906, the brick Hubbard-Woods building was built at the corner of...

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Hubbard's history

Hubbard's was founded in 1884 in Jacksonville by Fortunatus Hubbard Sr. In 1898 it moved to 335 E. Main St., in Medford.

Around 1906, the brick Hubbard-Woods building was built at the corner of East Main and North Riverside Avenue.

Three generations of Hubbards owned the business until the family sold it in 1972 to John and Kathi Ehrlich. The business was sold to Kent and Tish Cohee in 1987, and the Seus family acquired it a year later.

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Hubbard's Hardware will consolidate its operations into one store on Crater Lake Highway this summer.

The store on South Pacific Highway will close in July, and the building will be leased to CDS Publications, which operates next door. All of the employees will move to the north Medford store, which has accounted for the majority of the company's approximately $10 million in sales in recent years.

"This has been something in the works for quite some time," said General Manager Bob Seus, who leads the family business.

"CDS has been talking with us on and off, and the timing became right for them and us. We couldn't refuse; it was a no-brainer."

The retailer is one of the largest lawn-mower sellers on the West Coast and transferred all those operations to the Crater Lake store three years ago.

"There are a lot of lawn mowers and tractors in Jackson County, and we sell most of them," claimed Seus, the oldest of four brothers running the business.

Lawn mowers generate about 30 percent of the company's revenue, and the north Medford store accounts for 85 percent of the company's sales.

"We normally added seven to nine people in February or March, but in anticipation of this move we didn't do that this year," Seus said. "I feel like we can displace zero people in doing this, plus we'll have a number of people moving inventory and clearing things out."

Hubbard Brothers, which is celebrating its 130th anniversary this year, was located on the northwest corner of Main Street and Riverside Avenue for more than a century before closing in 2006. In 1990, the Seus family opened a Hubbard's store at 2655 S. Pacific Highway. The 16,000-square-foot store, with a 7,500-square-foot outbuilding and lumber yard, had previously housed Northwest Printed Circuits

In 2000, Hubbard's acquired the former Pat & Mike's Builders Service location on Crater Lake Highway and immediately proclaimed it would be the most successful of the three stores. A $2.5 million remodel was done in 2007.

The company sees 1,400 to 1,500 customers daily, Seus said.

"We're going to move a lot of inventory, but there's a certain amount of product and fixtures we'll be selling," Seus said. "We'll be holding a moving sale in the next week or so."

Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or business@mailtribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregMTBusiness, friend him on Facebook and read his blog at www.mailtribune.com/Economic Edge.